The Greek scene is mainly known for hardcore/crust bands from the 90’s NAYTIA (Nausea), PANIKOS (Panic), HAOTIKO TELOS (Chaotic end), ANASA STAHTI (Ashen breath), XEHASMENI PROFITEIA (Forgotten prophecy), GULAG (Gulag), ANTIDRASI (Reaction), PANX ROMANA and others. Most of these bands are not active today, except ANTIDRASI who recently put out a new Cd after 10+ years (http://www.antidrasi.com). Sadly, is a bit difficult to find original releases of these bands and in many cases such Lp’s from that era have become collector items.
Over there in France you may also know ALT TC that had a split Lp with 20 Minutes De Chaos on Maloka back in 2000 !
Many great things took place here the era 87-96. After 1996 the scene began to decline, not so many great bands or fanzines saw the light of day. Hopefully in the last years the music scene seems to become better and better but many things are different. The music style has, more or less, nothing to do with that unique Hc/crust sound and in many cases the lyrics are in english. I don’t know about you, but I prefer bands singing in their mother-tongue. Anyway, just have a look at what is happening in Greece today :
Bands
Punk - Hardcore
A well known band outside of Greece is HEIMERIA NARKI (Hibernation) that until now have 2 Ep’s and in 2004 they put out an LP on Skuld Releases. Raging and atmospheric Hc/crust with male-female vocals and powerful lyrics (in greek though). The lead singer, Alex, is ex-member of CHAOTIC END and FORGOTTEN PROPHECY and he also runs a distro. (hibernation_hc@yahoo.com)
EPITHANATIOS ROGHOS (Death rattle) is another band to play that kind of music, heavy and desperate neo-crust as well as POREIA STO PERITHORIO (Marching to fringe), which play amazing punk/hardcore, they have put out last year a split Lp. (http://www.myspace.com/epithanatios... - solitary_hc@yahoo.gr and http://www.myspace.com/poreiastoper... - poriastoperithorio@hotmail.com)
RAJAHTAA (http://www.myspace.com/rajahtaa) are from Kavala, northern Greece, and play this finnish 82 style hardcore, one demo out till now. From the same city are SATAN’S REJECT (goregiou@yahoo.com), too. These guys play old school hc/punk in the 80’s Uk style and a couple of months ago they released their fisrt 7” - they also have a great demo tape out.
TOXIKA APOVLITA (Toxic outcasts) from Athens put out some months ago the greatest punk-rock album of the last years. Catchy melodies, great production, perfect. (http://www.toxica-apovlita.gr - toxica_apovlita@hotmail.com)
VALPOURGIA NYHTA (Walpurgis night) is a great punk band. In their 2nd Cd they have added a violin player and sound very nice. I have sen them live many times and consider me as a big fan of them. (http://www.myspace.com/valpourgianyxta)
PARASITA (Parasites) are also great anarcho-punks from Athens. (http://www.myspace.com/taparasita - parasita_punx@hotmail.com)
In Greece there is only one real old school hardcore band with that typical 80’s sound, CENSORED SOUND (http://www.censoredsound.com).
Ska - Oi !
In the last years the Oi ! scene is becoming stronger and stronger, especially in Athens where Skinhead Unity Crew is helping a lot, mainly by organizing gigs with foreign and domestic bands. Two years ago they also released the 1st greek Oi ! compilation called "Oi ! Greek Oi !".
BOOTSTROKE are maybe the best band Oi ! band around. They have played some gigs outside of Greece and in the 27th of April of 2007 they’ll give a concert in Marseille (France). Awesome hooligan Oi ! with greek lyrics that sounds amazing ! (http://www.myspace.com/bootstroke)
In the same style backed by english lyrics are SOBERPHOBIA. (http://www.myspace.com/soberphobia) According to them their music style is drunk’n’roll ! Worth checking out !
Another good streetpunk band as well is OMIHLI (Fog). (http://www.myspace.com/omixlh)
Last, but not least, WASTED UNITED. Their music is proletarian pop (!) and they kick ass since 2000 ! (http://www.myspace.com/wastedutd)
There aren’t many ska bands around here but I’ll just name a few : KILL THE CAT (http://www.killthecat.gr - killthecat2006@yahoo.com), LES STARTOI ! (http://www.myspace.com/lesskartoi) and PLUS DOTS. (http://www.myspace.com/plusdots)
DIY reality in Greece
DIY spirit in music, but not only, has acquired a special form in Greece, in contrast to other countries, a more “hardcore” or maybe pure one. Bands are releasing their works by their own, the participation of underground labels in this isn’t something ordinary.
Gigs that are hold in squats or social centers have no entrance fee and they’re free to anyone who wants to join them. So what is the way to gather some money for the expenses (bands’ tickets, sound systems, etc) ? Well, there is a box or a helmet in the place of the concert in which people (just the ones who want) put the amount of money they wish/can afford. This situation has some problems cause sadly many people just do not give anything or prefer to buy some beers instead. Anyway I do not take part in gig organization, but I know that the guys who are into this, even the bands, sometimes give money from their pockets. Happily there are people to fight for this (concerts open to everyone) and hope that sometime everyone will understand that the scene needs their support to become more vivid.
Squats and social centers
The most known and big squat in Greece is Villa Amalias (Aharnon 80 & Heyden, Athens). Many gigs have taken place there since the beginning of the 90’s. In an effort not to be only an entertaining place, Villa has decided that bands which play in clubs cannot play in this place. Opinions like this one have somehow divided the scene in two parts, the really DIYers who want no-one (club owners etc) to become wealthier with their music, and the other DIYers that just want to play their music wherever they wish/like. I can understand Villa’s point of view, they do not want music to be considered as a product of joy but as something more meaningful. I cannot say though that I think this is the right thing to do, anyway... (villaamalias@gmail.com)
In Thessaloniki (known as Salonica) there is Yfanet squat (Omirou & Perdika, Kato Touba) and Street Attack (http://www.myspace.com/streetattack...), which is inside the university and many gigs are being held.
Labels - Distros
WIPE OUT records released some of the most legendary albums in the 90’s since it was the only label that had to do with punk and hardcore. For several reasons in the last years the records that they have put out had nothing to do with their past.
CANNONBALL 666 Records (http://www.myspace.com/cballrec) is the most known indie label that has do with hardcore and skatecore stuff mostly. They have released Cd’s from VODKA JUNIORS (great skatecore band, http://www.myspace.com/vodkajuniors), 925 (Fast melodic crusty punk-rock, http://www.myspace.com/925) and XLOS (http://www.myspace.com/xlosextralar...).
Another good label is PUNK.GR recs (www.punk.gr) that until now have released a couple of crusty Cd’s like the reprint of the ASHEN BREATH Lp and the 1st Cd of ENOHI SIOPI (Guilty silence). (http://www.myspace.com/enoxisiopi)
Another label worth mentionning is BLIND BASTARD records (http://www.myspace.com/blindbastardrecs).
The biggest greek distro is SCARECROW (www.scarecrow.gr). Darek, the guy who runs it, have does great work and he really helps the greek underground scene.
Another good distro is WE DON’T FIGHT IT (http://www.geocities.com/wedontfightit/ - trade_is_more_human@yahoo.gr). Many greek and latin america stuff there.
Fanzines
Not so many music fanzines here, at least not many good ones (hahaha).
First of all IMMIGRANT zine, which is the most worthy music fanzine. The last issue that fell into my hands was almost 1 year ago, it was the 3rd one, with many interviews, articles, reviews. Written half in english and half in greek.
KEEP IT REAL is a hardcore (with a SxE hint) fanzine that is written by the singer of DISHARMONIC, a great no school Hc band from central Greece. The last issue is totally written in english. Apostolis also runs a Hc distro called Wold’s appreciate kitch.(http://www.myspace.com/disharmonic - hxf_prodaxionz@yahoo.com)
Antiviosi (Antibiotic) is the fucking best zine I’ve ever read. Cut’n’paste punk style with fucking great articles ! Sadly for you it’s in greek... :) (embryodead@hotmail.com)
In the last years there’s been lots of punk/Hc attitude comiczines to appear. Anyone into comics should check these out : NEGRO (negro_zine@yahoo.gr), SPUNK (spunkcomics@yahoo.gr), SAPILLA (http://www.sapilla.gr, sapilla_zine@yahoo.com), SKILA KOMMATIA (http://www.myspace.com/skilazine - jpirinakis@yahoo.gr)and PARMEZINE.
MP3 downloading and infos on the net
A great site for the greek DIY punk (but not only) scene is http://www.diymusic.org. In this site you can find a huge list of DIY mp3s to download plus some fanzines.
There is also http://www.punk.gr where there are many infos about greek punk in english (interviews, record’s artworks etc).
By the way i’m Yorgos and I live in central Greece. If there is something you want to ask just email me at jpirinakis@yahoo.gr I also run a small distro with fanzines mainly and some greek releases.
Cheers !